Latest / Suite Spot: A Hotel Marketing Podcast / 175 – Suite Spot: Road Trip Series – Homewood Suites Orlando by Hilton
Transcript
- Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, a part of our Suite Spot 2025 Summer Road trip series. We are right here in our backyard in Orlando at the Homewood Suites by Hilton Orlando nearest to Universal Studios like I said, right in our backyard down the road, out of our TMG headquarters out here with Rick and Carlos who have been both here at this amazing property. We're gonna talk all about it. Now, Rick, we have met up with you earlier this year, and we have, yeah. One thing we haven't done is done a proper, you know, hospitality journey. We love a good story in hospitality, right? All of our humble beginnings where we might've started at the front desk. Bellman for myself. Give us a little bit of background in our audience, background into your hospitality. Rick Colling: Got it, Ryan, with pleasure. And it's a fun journey, Ryan, mate. So, we're like you. I started at the front desk, at the Kalamazoo Residence Inn, right after graduating from college. And I walked into the hotel and I said I've graduated from college. I think I should be the GM of a hospitality hotel. And the GM said to me, do you know anything about the business? I said, nothing. So he became my mentor in the business. So I started at the front desk and worked my way up through the ranks at Marriott. Spent 10 years with Marriott and I've been with Hilton now for 27 years, and been a GM and property director of sales on property, but I worked all the disciplines and it's just been an incredible journey to finally end up leading a brand like Homewood Suites over the course of the last five years, which has been, you know, certainly a career highlight for me. So, a fun journey to get me here today. Ryan Embree: But yet a familiar one; one that we hear all the time, a lot of college students, you know, maybe just taking here a summer job, end up falling in love with the industry. But another piece of your story that we're hearing so often is mentors. Yeah. And I wanna highlight that is because there's so many hospitality professionals out there mentoring the next generation of hospitality professionals. So important in our industry right now. And Carlos you have a background here in this area, this campus? Of hotels. Give us your hospitality journey. Carlos Sotillo: Well, actually, funny story, when my parents first came to America, they actually started working at a Homewood Suites. Oh, okay. I was, came out, yeah. My mom was a housekeeper. My dad was a houseman. And I was 11. So during summer break, they would take me with them to work sometimes. And so I grew up in a Homewood Suites during my summer break. Rick Colling: Which is where you needed to be, right. Carlos: Right. In full circle. But officially, my career started, I was a breakfast attendant at a small hotel down on I-Drive. And then the opportunity came out to be a night auditor. So, you know, I went for it. And now, low and behold, here I am. I went through four different Hilton brands. I've gone through Hampton Hilton, Garden Inn, Home2, and now here back at the Homewood. So it's been a fun, fun journey. Rick Colling: No, we're glad to have you mate. One of the best in the business right here. Ryan Embree: Well, it's incredible. We always say sometimes, hospitality runs in the blood, runs in your DNA sometimes, and you grew up here, you had family members that worked at this specific brand. It's an incredible story again. So, Carlos, let's talk about your incredible property. What makes it special? Obviously a huge renovation. Talk to us a little bit about that. Carlos: Yeah, so one of the things that makes this hotel special, I think is the staff. So we have staff that's been here for, I mean, many, many years. You guys have met some of them. Yep. They've been here almost since the hotel opened originally. The other thing is we have such a diverse staff too. I have people from in housekeeping that are from Haiti and Jamaica. And then at the front desk I have people from Colombia, my food and beverage supervisors from Morocco. My GM is British, one of our Ds is a Puerto Rican. And I'm Venezuelan, you know. So being in an international tourist hotspot like Orlando, I think that really helps get to know when guests arrive, we kind of know what they're feeling. And it kind of helps us create that sense of welcoming, you know, as far as renovation, I mean, it was definitely, there were some growing pains for sure, but I mean, like any renovation. Yeah. But the end result was worth it. You know, it was seven hard months of renovation, but the end result, I mean, we have a beautiful property now. We get nothing but good comments on the modern touches of the rooms and the lodge area. So, I mean, it's really something to be proud of. Ryan Embree: It's a beautiful property. Had the opportunity to open space. All of the modern touches, like you talked about, a lot of the things, to be honest with you, the upgrades that I saw when giving the property tour, I recognize based on our conversations, Rick at Hunter. Rick Colling: That's correct. Yeah, exactly. Ryan Embree: So talk about how this renovation really speaks to that vision that you had for the brand. Rick Colling: Well, and this Ryan is a perfect example. A 22-year-old property opened in 2003, runs incredible numbers. So you can imagine the volume of guests that come through an asset like this. So at 22 years young, this product needed a full complete renovation. We launched a new prototype in 2021, and to be able to bridge a 22-year-old Homewood Suites with a prototype, the new 10.0 prototype has been amazing. So it starts with the suites. When you look at the suites, whether it be the color palette, the productivity tables, the accentuation of lighting, natural light, all of those things have been accentuated here at the property. And then if you go through the public space, the public space is absolutely beautiful. What used to be dark cabinets are now bright and light and lively. Natural light flows through the whole property, from the entrance to the breakfast area, to the kitchens, the outdoor kitchens, to the swimming pool. So it's just a beautiful example of how you take a 22-year-old asset and literally bridge the gap between the new prototype. This is a perfect example, and thanks to the team of Buffalo Lodging and Carlos for giving us such a fantastic product. It's beautiful. Ryan Embree: Well, it's incredible because the obviously, the average night stay is gonna be a little bit longer at a Homewood Suites. And, you know, just based on the trends of people working from home, working remotely, you need those open spaces. You do. Now you need those spaces where people want to have the flexibility to say, Hey, I'm gonna go work for a couple hours in the lobby. Absolutely. After, you know, making my own breakfast taco, which we're gonna talk about. Rick Colling: Well, I hope so. Yeah, right. I eat too many of them. Ryan Embree: And then come back to, you know, a very spacious room where, you know, again, you can enjoy your time whether you're here professionally or here, leisure, obviously, we're gonna talk about the location here in a minute. But ton of feedback coming from here, and especially in a unique location like this in Orlando, where you probably see visitors from not just nationally, internationally, but to be able to see the review and feedback. I'm sure that goes a lot into what you and your team are talking about of how you can improve and enhance the guest experience. But it also speaks to what you and your team here are doing, Carlos. So let's talk about this location. We're locals, we're right up the road in Maitland. But for those maybe listening or watching this podcast that aren't familiar, you've got an incredible location. You were talking to me about something you might be able to see on the fifth floor there. Carlos: Yeah for sure. I mean, there's, honestly, if you're coming to Orlando, I can't think of a better place to stay. Sure. Right. And I'm not being, you know, bipartisan, I mean, partial on that. But you know, we're we're five minutes away from Universal Studios. Islands of Adventure, Volcano Bay, I mean, literally on the fifth floor, you can see Harry Potter's Castle right off the window. And we're five minutes away from the new park from Epic Universe. So, we have tons of restaurants on the iDrive corridor. We're right off of I-4. So if you're planning on going to the Beaches or towards Disney World, we're right there. I mean, I honestly, this place is very, very, very good location. Ryan Embree: It's amazing. You know, we were walking up and I could smell the sunscreen on everyone getting ready for a long day at Universal or some of the other theme parks now. And this is an official Universal partner property. Explain what that means and the benefit value that adds to the guest experience. Carlos Sotillo: Yeah, yeah, for sure. So with being a universal partner hotel, we have an onsite concierge every morning. He is able to sell tickets, print tickets, give you advice and recommendations, what to do in the park. We also offer complimentary transportation to and from Universal Studios. And now they added Epic Universe as well to the bus route. So definitely a lot of perks with being a partner hotel. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it's fantastic. You know, really seamless. I think that's what we're trying to. Hospitality's really embracing that personalization, seamless ease of transition. I mean, listen, it's getting into a hub like Orlando is gonna be tough enough. You want to get to the property and just wanna feel like everything's right there at your fingertips. Rick Colling: Well, I think, you know, I think what Carlos team have done a really good job. When you align yourself with, for example, at Disney Park, the expectations of the guests are high because usually it's a leisure guest. They're paying for the vacation themselves. So the expectations are high. And what Carlos has done, I think, in partnership with being a preferred property, is that the expectation starts at the property. It doesn't start at the park when you arrive here, you expect the same level of perfection that you would get from going to a Disney Park. It's amazing to me how you've managed to execute that as a partner. Yeah. But in a hotel that has such tremendous volume, because Carlos is a humble guy, but when you think in terms of the stay score, satisfaction ratings of this hotel, it's one of the top of the brand. So it's amazing what they've managed to replicate here in respects to not only physical product, but also service. I mean, it's just, it's amazing. It's a truly a fantastic story. Ryan Embree: It's a great point. because Orlando is unique in the sense of, you know, you might have, you might save years for one trip to come to Disney, to come to Universal Studios. You're right, the stakes are much, much higher when you get here. It's up. And to have that, you know, I've seen the feedback too, Carlos, like to have the property mentioned as a part of that experience as a whole. It's a very, very special thing. And that's the essence of hospitality there. Rick Colling: It's fantastic. It's just compliments the garlic. Ryan Embree: Rick, let's talk about, you know, this market, and I think really, a lot of markets that the Homewood Suites brands are in, it's ultra competitive, right? I mean, you can throw a baseball and probably hit about five hotels from here, but yet guests continually choose this specific brand, in Orlando, this specific property. What do you, what's the draw here? Why do people continue to choose it? Rick Colling: Yeah, it's a great question, Ryan. So, I would say the reason it's so appealing as a product to the consumer, you mentioned it earlier, space. You bring a family into Orlando, whether you are on business or on on leisure space is a precious commodity. So when you are walking into a suite, like Homewood Suites, for example, you've got a separate kitchen with everything that you need to prepare a meal if you wanna prepare a meal. But to reheat a meal, if you wanna reheat a meal or just to put a pizza in the, and a six pack of Coke in the refrigerator, you've got a phenomenal living room, which gives you separation from not only the kitchen, but an area that you can kind of relax at the end of a busy day. And then you've got a separate bedroom. So I think space is, is a primary benefit to the product. But then I'd also say the amenities that we've got, if you think in terms of the food and beverage ecosystem, which we'll get a little bit into, I suppose, is you've got everything you need. So whether it's you wanna cook in your room, you've got a phenomenal breakfast that we provide you in the morning. We've got a welcome home Wednesday reception where we get to meet, greet our guests who are staying for a long period of time. We've got an outdoor kitchen, we've got a partnership with GrubHub. So anything that you need as it relates to a food and beverage ecosystem is taken care of. So it's kind of your home away from home. And we use that, you know, all the time. But it kind of is like, it's everything you need to continue the rituals of life, whether you are in Orlando for leisure, whether you're in Orlando for business. Because ordinarily people stay just a little bit longer with a Homewood Suites, it's five or six or seven nights. This product provides you with the space and atmosphere and energy you need to stay and relax and enjoy for 5, 6, 7 nights. It's a beautiful product. Ryan Embree: It is. It's incredible. And I want to go, I wanna dive into that food and beverage experience. Because you're right with something that has an your longer than average stay. You don't want to be eating the same thing. You want that variety, you want those options, those choices specifically, right? You got a build your own taco bar, We were stopped multiple times in our tour. Carlos from people raving, we even got stopped by a guest that had a Mickey Mouse waffle. A waffle there that they had made there. So talk to us a little. Yeah. Talk to us a little bit about Carlos, the maybe food and beverage experience here and how that variety and guess feedback from that. Carlos Sotillo: Yeah, absolutely. So I mean, having that variety when it comes to, you know, breakfast, all the toppings that we provide, and all the breakfast options. I think you mentioned it, you know, people are staying here 5, 6, 7 nights, they don't want to eat the same things over and over and over again. Sure. Us having that gives them that variety and you know, our food and beverage team works hard to make sure to change things up. Every time, every Wednesday during the welcome home reception, we have, you know, different, whether it's the cheese and soups and veggies, and we have pour my beer and wine and, you know, it gives people the opportunity to really enjoy not only the food, but also that space out there, you know, and spend time with the family maybe before going to the parks, you know, kind of huddle, huddling up before the parks, getting a game plan for the day, or just coming back after the parks on Wednesdays and chilling out for a little bit. Ryan Embree: Hey, listen, we know, I'm a family of four. If we can have a nice breakfast here, the Homewood Suites before going out to, you know, you need that energy in the morning. We also know how much that costs sometimes. And to have that here provided is a part of the experience that goes a long way. Even that Wednesday, you know, you can guarantee I got a two and a 4-year-old, four hitting those parks. I'm gonna need a cold one after. Rick Colling: Absolutely right. Absolutely. And something Carlos has done a phenomenal job of also is you can provide a great physically renovated product. So the environment in which you're having breakfast is beautiful. You can provide a great breakfast product. So whether it be the make your own taco bar, whether it be the overnight oats, whether it be the chia pudding, if you're on a healthy restricted diet sort of thing, there's something that appeals to everybody. But I think what Carlos has really tapped into here is the ability not only to serve a breakfast, but host a breakfast. And there's a difference in hosting a breakfast than serving a breakfast. And I think he does the same on Wednesday night because the scores would indicate he does, is he hosts the event. So it's not, please come on down and enjoy. It's please, come on down, engage with us, tell us your stories. Let us learn a little bit about you so that while you're here for five or six or seven nights, you become part of the family. And these guys are humble, but they do a really good job of it. I mean, you do an awesome job, brother. Carlos Sotillo: Thank you. Ryan Embree: What's that old GM trick we heard, right? You ever want to know what guests are really saying about your property? Come to the lobby during breakfast? Rick Colling: Absolutely. Ryan Embree: Listen to those conversations. I mean we ran into a couple guests checking out after months here. They've been here since January. Incredible. Rick Colling: Absolutely right. Miserable that they had to leave. Which I would be too, right? I mean, who's gonna serve me breakfast? Who's gonna clean my room? I mean, I don't wanna leave. Why would you wanna leave a Homewood Suites? Ryan Embree: Well, and you know, that's just one of the many examples. Like I was mentioning, you know, the reviews, the guest feedback speaks for itself. You're right near the top of this highly competitive Orlando market. Carlos, congratulations. You know, was this, how do you leverage an online reputation like this? And what does it mean to you to get this much guest feedback? Carlos Sotillo: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, having over 2000 reviews on TripAdvisor is, I mean, we're definitely giving people something to talk about, you know, and it's good that it's positive reviews, you know, that really speaks about the efforts. And you know, it's good. It helps for me to show it to our staff and see that their efforts are coming through and, you know, where it's not all in vain, right? So you know, and obviously that drives bookings. You know, people go on TripAdvisor, they see, oh, this hotel has nothing but good reviews. Why wouldn't I choose that hotel? You know, on top of everything else that Hilton or the Homewood Suites Brands offers. I mean, like you said, it might be just a building without us. So I think the service culture is strong and it's what drives those reviews and those bookings. So we're really, really, really proud of all that. Rick Colling: The sense of entry, Ryan, you know, I've always said that as a brand leader, when I walk into a hotel, when those doors open, you can tell instantaneously whether it's an engaged team or not. And the experience of walking in here this morning, it's an engaged team, mate. I mean, they're just alive and ready to go. And this is on the tail end of a breakfast where they've probably served, I don't know what, 800 people probably. To have the energy and charisma to continue the hospitality and the hosting nature of breakfast is you know, it's just a compliment to the leadership team here. And again, to Ron Kendall and his team at Buffalo. They're a great group. Ryan Embree: It's absolutely incredible. And, you know, sending all these people out, like I said, to the parks, you know, with a little happy, a full stomach. Yeah. A lot of energy. Big piece of getting them through their day, which is really cool. Yeah. Rick, you know, how do you, we talked about feedback on Carlos' side, obviously that's so important from the guest perspective. Obviously have weigh that with some of the vision and brand vision, but you also have to balance the owner feedback that you're hearing. Sure. How do you balance those two things and make sure that when you make a change, when you make a new prototype, you do a renovation to a property, it matches and is mutually benefit? Rick Colling: Ryan it's a great question. You know, we do the creation of the prototype, and I think we hinted at it during our conversation at Hunter was done in partnership with five owners. So we invited five owners to the party to say, Hey, listen, we've got a beautiful brand that's 30 years old. If we were to create a new prototype, how would we do that? And these owners were in partnership lockstep, shoulder to shoulder with us as we created the new prototype. What they were avid about was the brand's been successful for 30 years, let us not depart from the pillars that made it successful. Now we can modernize the pillars, which we have, but the pillars have stayed the same. So think in terms of a full suite, a complimentary breakfast, the outdoor kitchen, the phenomenal activity in the yard, things along those lines. So we stayed true to the brand. And then any changes that we make, for example, you mentioned breakfast. That was a big change for us. We elevated the breakfast with the taco experience. Everything was vetted through owners. So we have a very lively owner advisory council. That we'll do calls with every quarter. And what we bring to our owner advisory council is not solutions. We bring opportunities and they become part of the solution of opportunities that we bring to the table. So they keep us within our guardrails of, okay, is it going to be phenomenal for the operator of the business? Is it gonna be phenomenal for the consumer, but also from a profitability standpoint, from an ownership perspective, is it going to net what it needs to net? And if you can complete those three buckets, I think you're in the right journey. So our owners are very vocal. I encourage it as a brand leader. They've kind of, you know, while I've been, I guess, the spokesperson of the brand, there's a lot of people behind me that have helped me get the brand to where it is today, our owners being one of them. Ryan Embree: And that's so key, Rick. And I think, you know, something we preach on this podcast all the time about embracing feedback. You know the one thing it should be very scary to hotel, you know, operators, owners is silence, right? You don't hear anything. Even those negative experiences are opportunities, like you said, to improve, enhance and this prototype, this renovation, Carlos just speaks exactly to that of listening to not only the guests, the owners, and making sure it's a win-win for everyone.Carlos, we're here in the busy season. Obviously summer kids are out of school. Talk to us about what you're preparing for. We've obviously got a big new announcement in the Orlando area about a new theme park. What are you looking forward to this summer? What do guests have to look forward to this summer? Carlos Sotillo: Yeah, I mean, summers in Orlando are hot. You're waiting in line, you're doing all over. So there's a lot, you know, there's a lot that goes in the operations of the hotel. You know we try to stay proactive, make sure that everything is guest ready. Buffalo Lodging has done a great job at prepping us as managers to ensure that the hotel is guest ready, you know, by 8:00 AM by or by 6:00 AM when, when guests start coming down for breakfast. So you know, I make sure that the team is trained. I make sure that everything is workingm properly for our guests. The last thing they want is to come here and, you know, not get some of the amenities they were promised. And yeah, I mean, the Orlando area is booming that this new theme park is just gonna drive so much business over our way. And yeah, we're just proactive, patient positive. You know, I think I mentioned that during the branch, one of our brand calls is the important of being positive out there, you know, as leaders, because as you guys know, in the hotel world, you know, things don't always go according to plan, you know, so you have to be prepared for worst case scenarios and you know, show the staff that, Hey, it's okay. We're, we're gonna get through this and this business as usual, and, you know, let's move on. Ryan Embree: And the good news is we saw a little bit of a bounce back from the international traveler like that we were talking about hearing about that we were just at NYU last week covering that, hearing some good news about, it's gonna be a very busy summer season. Booking window has kind of shortened, but it seems like everything is still looking as a positive outlook, which is something we built on in March. I'm wondering Rick, and you know, as we zoom out a little and kind of wrap this up, you know, being that we have, I think the theme last week was don't believe those big headlines. So, you know, there's a lot of uncertainty out there, but, you know, why is Homewood Suite still a really smart investment in today's climate? Rick Colling: It's a great question and something I pond around all the time, right? And I think for us, it was interesting that and I hate to bring it up, but the period of COVID for us was very interesting because the brand did extremely well, and it did extremely well because it's a niche brand that is dedicated to extended stay business. And it's served us really well during COVID, if you can think in terms of traveling nurses, medical professionals, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. They looked at Homewood Suites as a safe haven to stay during one of the worst hospitality periods in our industry. What that taught a lot of people is that it's an evergreen great performer, and it is, it's an evergreen great performer. So when you think in terms of the investment of Homewood Suites, if you want to diversify a portfolio, so let's say you've got a beautiful IHG, you've got a beautiful Hampton, you might have a great Embassy Suites. If you want to diversify a portfolio with a product that will perform regardless of economic environments, Homewood Suites Home2 suites are two brands that would do that for you. So I just think it resonates with an owner. It's a great, it's saved them during COVID. So many of them have told me, if we didn't have a Homewood in our portfolio, where would we be? I'm not quite sure, Rick. So today I think the brand just resonates, and I think as an extended stay segment, I mean, it's kind of the darling of the industry. I fell in love with it 27 years ago. I knew it was the darling of the industry. And I just think there's a lot of folks getting on board with the beauty of an extended stay product, and Homewood being the upscale representation for Hilton, and does extremely well, very proud of the brand and proud of folks like Carlos who are in the field doing it every day because they're literally making our vision come true. So it's a beautiful place to be. Ryan Embree: It's incredible. And it's part of the brand story. You know, obviously, like you said, we don't like talking about those times, but it happened, and it's one of those things that we'll show you, and I'm sure you'll learn, we've learned so much from that time period right. And, you know, obviously have some lessons that we've enhanced the guest experience through we've learned some things, how we can, how guests can adopt technology. Absolutely. And how receptive they are to some of these fast changing things where hospitality really not known for making very fast changes at points. But we had to be flexible and versatile. But it's a great story to see that Homewood was performing so well during that time and is such a staple and can be a staple and an investment, hospitality investment portfolio. Rick Colling: Without question, Ryan. Without question. Ryan Embree: Great. Well, we covered a lot. As we wrap up here we always like to kinda look into our hospitality crystal ball, look into the future. Carlos, we'll start with you. Any final thoughts about kind of your vision for the property? And what's ahead? Carlos Sotillo: Yeah, no, I mean I think, you know, we just have to keep turning on. I want us to keep succeeding the way we have. I think we have a beautiful property here. I know we have a beautiful property and our staff does a great job. You know, I'm just looking forward to more success and more money our way. Rick Colling: Well, you'll get it. You'll get it. Ryan Embree: For sure. And Rick, what about you? Rick Colling: You know, I'm a rose colored glasses glass half full kind of guy. I always have my entire career, that's why I look at the world. So I don't worry to your on earlier on about the headlines. I think if we are dedicated to this beautiful industry that we're in, this is the hospitality industry. And when I get out in the field, I get out of my office in Memphis and I get out in the field. It's where I get my inspiration. And we have some beautiful people who are leading phenomenal products, not only in the home with brand, but across the category and across the enterprise for Hilton. We should applaud them. It's a great career to be in. It's tremendously rewarding and very proud of where Homewood is, proud of the enterprise, proud of the category, and it's a great business. Ryan Embree: And it is. Travel is in hospitality, one of, if not the best, one of the best industries to be a part of. And, you know, and I would, I'd challenge our hotel, your listeners. You know, something we heard that resonated with me last week when we were covering that is if there is that uncertainty, if you're a little nervous getting back down to the fundamentals, you know, something that you've been doing over here with your team Carlos, observing the guests, and I guarantee it, if you do that at a high volume, at a high rate, you're gonna see it and you're gonna, and you weather these potential storms if they ever come to fruition. So Carlos, thank you for hosting the Suite Spot here. Like I said in our backyard, Rick, it's always a pleasure to catch up with you. Rick Colling: Well, I challenged you at Hunter. I said, I'll see you down in Orlando. So thank you for making this come true for me. This is, it's an honor to be on your podcast. So, well thank you. Cheers to you for making it happen. Ryan Embree: Thank you so much. Thank you Carlos. And thank you to our listeners. We'll talk to you next time on The Suite Spot to join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star reading on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I'm your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.